"The State of Israel ... will ensure complete equality of social and political
rights of all its inhabitants irrespective of religion ... it will guarantee freedom
of religion and conscience." - May 1948)

Getting to the bottom of the use of scarce public funds for children at risk

60% of State funds for "youth at risk" go to ultra-Orthodox

Hiddush’s mission to advance religious freedom and equality includes an attempt to identify and eliminate “pork barreling” in the religion-state arena, especially when they masquerade as ‘holy.’ Hiddush is in court now to get to the bottom of the use of scarce public funds available to address the challenge of children at risk.

Hiddush's monitoring has uncovered that 60% of the funding provided by Israel’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services for helping youth at risk went to ultra-Orthodox institutions. Given that only 15% of the Israeli Jewish population is Haredi, this data point raised significant questions!

Is this a case of political corruption and abuse of public funds, wherein the Ministry favors ultra-Orthodox private institutions over others? Or – is it possible that ultra-Orthodox youth are more likely to be “at risk” than the youth of other populations?

Hiddush issued a Freedom of Information Request to the Ministry in June 2017, asking for answers to the following questions:

How are the government funds for providing services to at risk youth actually distributed and how are they being used by the institutions that receive them?

Rather than provide the information they are obligated to disclose, after much back-and-forth over many months, the responses we received were partial at best. Hiddush was not provided with any information about the use of government funds distributed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services to these private institutions. Further, the Ministry claimed that only one universal definition of “youth at risk” exists for all of Israel’s demographic populations. However, this flies in the face of evidence gathered by Hiddush.

Hiddush was not provided with any information about the use of government funds distributed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services to these private institutions.

In 2013, the Ministry issued a tender to yeshivas for the education and treatment of Haredi youth at risk, providing its definition of “youth at risk” in the ultra-Orthodox community. This includes dressing “improperly” in Haredi communities, using coarse language, sexual behavior that goes against the grain of community values, and sporadic use of alcohol. In short, any Haredi youth behaving like a secular Israel would fall under the definition of “youth at risk” provided in the Ministry’s tender, and thereby be eligible for state funding as “youth at risk”!

In ultra-Orthodox society, the pressure to conform to ultra-Orthodox extreme religious norms is tremendous. It views “winning over” secular youth favorably; but is adamant about preventing Haredi youth from pursuing their natural urges or free intellectual exploration. Psychiatric drugs are often prescribed at the behest of rabbis, yeshiva “supervisors” and marriage counselors to yeshiva students, men, seminary girls and married in some ultra-Orthodox circles [see HERE for instance]. Many natural human behaviors (like masturbation and homosexual impulses) put Haredim in conflict with their communities, leading many to the point of depression.

Medications to dull human desires are even prescribed for patients by cooperating psychiatrists who have never properly examined “their” patients. Given this background, the Ministry’s refusal to fully answer Hiddush’s freedom of information request is particularly troubling.

Last week, after many months of obfuscation by Ministry staff, Hiddush filed a petition with the courts demanding that the Ministry fulfil its obligations under the Freedom of Information Law. Our investigation is heating up – and Hiddush will continue to pursue this matter tenaciously until the full facts are disclosed. If our initial information is proven accurate we will then take the matter further to stop this suspected abuse of public funds and highly questionable policies.